Embers
by bellmare
Summary: Some people just want to watch the world burn. — Ruby/Weiss.


Some people just want to watch the world burn. Weiss doesn't know why the thought appeals to her.

She has to stop and assess the situation. What situation. Right, the situation with the kitchen. The kitchen that is on fire. What is it with her and fire, she wonders. Well, that's not much of a question. It's because it's not cold and crisp and sterile, of course; it doesn't confine itself to a single, polyhedral form and goes wherever it wishes. How enviable.

It had sounded like a good idea, at the time. Baking cookies, that is; not setting the dorm kitchens on fire. Isn't the presentation of baked goods to one's bedfellow an appropriate thing to do at specific times of the year? Weiss is certain she's read that in one of Nora's magazines. The evidence to back up their hypotheses is not solidly grounded; that said, she doesn't think she agrees with Nora's assessment of baked goods being a requirement to give to people every day.

If that was a hint, she's not taking it, anyway.

Weiss drums her fingers worriedly against the counter, and debates how best to combat the burgeoning inferno. Bringing out Myrtenaster at a time like this, though, is out of the question.

"Oh, my god, what are you _doing_?"

She spins on her heel and almost drops the tray she's holding in her rush to hide it behind her back. "Nothing!" she snaps when Ruby continues to gape at her. She can't believe it. It's two in the afternoon. The fact that it's a weekend doesn't excuse the fact that her partner appears to have recently awoken on the wrong side of the bed; her hair's dishevelled, flat along the curve of her cheek on one side and messily spiky on the other. Who even wakes up at two in the afternoon? Maybe she should try it sometime when she goes back to visit the family. Weiss adds another tick mark to her mental checklist on _Ways To Annoy The Parents In Subtle Yet Increasingly Infuriating Ways_."What're you doing here, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong? It's none of your business what I do!"

"Um, I think it _is_ my business," Ruby says loudly, punctuating each word with a step closer, "what my partner is or isn't doing! Who d'you _think_ they'll stick me with if you _die_? And I'm _hungry_, I haven't had breakfast!"

"Whose fault was it to wake up after _lunch?_" Weiss replies. Her eyes flick to the floor; even barefoot, Ruby's taller than her. The world's such a cruel and unusual place, she thinks sourly. "And as usual, you're as charming as ever and have all your priorities in the right order!"

Ruby stops, halfway between the door and the counter. "Oh, well, thank y-"

"Get out!"

.

She has to concede defeat, eventually. When she traipses back to her room she carries in her wake a distinctive waft of burnt vanilla.

"What were you trying to make before you set the oven on fire? Making toast?" Ruby asks from where she lounges upside-down on her bed. "I mean, um, I'm not judging but you must've, uh, had maids to do that sort of stuff for you, right?"

Weiss thinks about tossing the bag of cookies unceremoniously at Ruby's face. Fifty points if she nails her smack in between the eyes. Deduct ten points of it bounces off her head. Wait, what is she thinking. That'd be a waste of perfectly good cookies she's spent the morning making.

"For you," she says at last, and places the cellophane bag on Ruby's duvet. The wrapper crinkles loudly, a plastic rustle as Ruby scrambles up and snatches up the package, eyeing it excitedly.

"Wow, did you make that? Is that for ... wow, is that _for me_?"

Weiss can feel her lips compressing to a thin line. "Oh, I don't know, it just dropped out of the sky," she says. When Ruby looks at her she narrows her eyes and shakes her head, a quick, brisk jerk. Ruby's shoulders sag slightly.

"Um, wow, I really don't know what to say, this is really nice of you, Weiss-"

"A simple thanks would suffice."

Ruby jumps to her feet and seizes both of Weiss' hands. Weiss takes half a step back, and reconsiders. This is what she wanted, she reminds herself.

"Thank you so much!" Ruby says and leans forward to kiss her. "Can you not," Weiss mumbles under her breath when she tilts her head up.

Well, this is really nice, Weiss thinks, half a second before their foreheads bash together.

.

"I said I was sorry!"

"What else could I expect from your incompetence?" Weiss asks and regrets it immediately. The side of her head still hurts. She wonders whose depth perception is at fault here. "Just eat them before they get cold, they're supposed to be nicer when they're warm and chewy."

"But I want to save them for later! It's not every day I get cookies like these, you know."

"Oh." Weiss stares down at her essay, and crosses out the last few sentences. She doesn't think Ruby would have started on hers yet. "Well, I'm very _flattered_."

Her mattress compresses; Weiss glances up to find Ruby squeezing into her bed, nudging her with her elbow. Weiss considers pushing her off. "If you're going to eat cookies in my bed, at least make sure you don't get crumbs everywhere," she says. "If I find a single crumb on my sheets I'm never making anything for you ever again."

Ruby unknots the ribbon and pulls the bag open, holding one up appreciatively. "Why ... why did you make these for me?" She catches Weiss' glare and backpedals hurriedly. "I mean! I really appreciate it, but I'm just wondering!"

"Out of the goodness of my heart," Weiss replies and scratches out another sentence. It's hard to write when Ruby keeps jostling her elbow like that. Ink blots across her page. She purses her lips, and sets her pen down. "Show some appreciation."

"You know," Ruby says musingly, clearly not listening to a thing Weiss says, "it's actually kinda cool how we got together and stuff. Flame-forged friends and then some. Remember when we first met?"

"I find it hard to forget."

"You yelled at me some and I sneezed fire all over you, how cool was that?"

"Yes," Weiss says sardonically. Ruby picks out another cookie and takes a bite. If she can taste a hint of char-grilled crispiness around the edges - and centre, for that matter - she's tactful enough to not mention it. "You almost set my foot on fire."

Ruby smiles broadly. There are cookie crumbs on her lips. Weiss thinks about her life and her choices. "Well, Yang always said it was important to make a strong first impression!"

"And your sister also punches things and sets them on fire," Weiss mutters under her breath and uncaps her pen. "I can see why you decided to start things with a bang."

"And when we first became partners! Well, not partner-partners, but, you know, normal-partners. Remember when you set the forest on fire?"

"That was your fault! If someone hadn't come bursting in like a great big oaf, none of that would've happened!"

Ruby carries on as though she hasn't heard a word Weiss just said. "Even after that, remember when we got assigned on this mission and got so scared we were going to die because we were up against this hydra thing whose heads kept growing back? And how we made out in the middle of a firestorm that sprang from the fumes it belched after we killed it?"

Weiss can feel the tips of her ears burning. That wasn't one of her strong points in their relationship. "Stop bringing that up already! Ugh. Go write your essay and stop eating, you're going to spoil your appetite for dinner."

"Ugh, geeze, stop nagging, I get it already!" Ruby groans and slouches against the headboard. "Will you look it over for me?"

Weiss stares down at her work and tears the top sheet off, crumpling it into a ball. "Of course. I have to make sure you don't flunk out, after all. Especially after all the work I've put into getting you to realise the importance of theory, and how life isn't just about punching things in the face until they give in."

"As charming and caring as ever," Ruby snorts and hops off the bed. "What would I do without you?"

"What indeed," Weiss replies. At least this time when she kisses Ruby, they don't give each other a black eye.


End file.
